


If Not For Him, Then No One

by PinkGluestick



Series: Nines basically puts a bunch of great things into motion [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Language, Adult Themes, Angst, Depression, Fluff, Friendship, Gavin suffers in this, Gavin’s cat babies, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Minor Character Death, More Fluff, Nines having to figure feelings out for Gavin’s sake, Romance, Swearing, These will be added to, because Gavin needs it, cursing, especially since I always forget what to tag, fluff fluff, like sex, lots of fluff, somewhat graphic depictions of vulgar topics, touch starved Gavin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-09 12:11:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18637879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkGluestick/pseuds/PinkGluestick
Summary: *First chapter is a little intro into what the heck is happening*Continuing the nuisance I’ve been writing, Nines is getting a better hang of being a good officer and an OK ‘human’. He’s got a long way to go, but he endeavors to become better everyday.Unfortunately, he’s about to be put to the ultimate test when the entire precinct receives the most disturbing news. Gavin suffers the brunt of it and Nines, who kind of hates his guts but a little less these days, comes to terms with that whole ‘for the greater good’ thing Connor likes to say.That means making things right for Gavin no matter his own feelings. Despite his reluctance to admit he’s feeling something, he just can’t turn away when the other man needs him.





	1. Wake Up Call- Intro

**Author's Note:**

> *Just an intro into the story*
> 
> This will have feelings, poorly written I’m sure, but not with the end goal to angst all of you to death. I promise. I want Gavin healthy as much as the next fucker, so this story WILL have fluff. So much in fact, you’ll hate it.

“Hey...you notice anything different about Connor and Hank?”

“I believe that’s the first time you’ve ever used their names.”

Gavin made a face like he’d swallowed something gross.

“Not worth sayin...’.” 

He wished he’d brought something for dinner with him. They’d been standing in rain for hours and it was pushing close to midnight. That’s 8 hours since he last ate, and 40 since he’d last slept. His brain wandered over to the nice, warm bed waiting for him at home.

“I thought you just didn’t know how to. But, yes, I have noticed a difference.”

Gavin folded his arms against his chest and gave Nines a petulant look when he realized he didn’t plan explaining any further. 

There was quiet for a minute as they watched the rain puddle at their feet. They crowded against a sliver of awning against a warehouse. The crime scene, unfortunately, was an outside affair, making it impossible to keep dry.

“Why do you care?” Nines suddenly quipped. He wasn’t counting on Gavin to give him a satisfying answer, or at least a sensible one. True to form-

“I’m tired of looking at them. They’re even greater pains in my ass now.”

“Really?” Nines mentally ran through the evidence again. They hadn’t missed anything, but Chris being forced to question every suspect on scene was going to keep them here regardless. Nines finally understood why his job required him to be thruough as such, thanks to Connor patiently explaining, and however frivolous it was to stay after their android brains constructed everything perfectly to the letter, this part still needed doing. He’d just have to stand there waiting with a half-human trash can in the pouring rain until Chris finished.

“You go out of your way to avoid them. How are they bothering you?”

“Tch, by existing.”

Nines didn’t bite, of course, and let his highly unamused glare speak for itself. Gavin rolled his eyes and cursed having to work with such a boring fucking prude.

“They’re always making faces at each other.” He shrugged.

“There are these weird ass moments where they can’t be touching for more than five seconds before they’re all goo-goo eyes and.....”

He stopped there. He couldn’t find the words to explain the bashful looks they gave one another, because he couldn’t understand them. They were staring him right in the face, but Gavin couldn’t understand that what was happening between Hank and Connor was something very much not platonic and very much worth a deeper look.

Nines knew Gavin wasn’t a romantic. He was passionate, he was bold. He wasn’t afraid to take chances, but these qualities did not make him romantic. Honestly, Nines wondered if qualities was the right term; that would imply a favorable feature and nothing about Gavin was that.

 

“Do you wish they’d look at you that way, Detective?” He couldn’t resist infuriating him whenever possible.

Gavin looked like he was literally biting his tongue.  
“Nines, why the FUCK don’t you think before you speak?”

“I do. I thought it over, and I think you’re jealous.” He added a brow raise for further infuriation.

“You thought it over just now? Just like that?” Gavin looked over at Chris questioning a resident store keeper who’d seen the stabbing take place. 

“Yes. It takes me one-one billionth of a second to determine what choices i have in conversation for every line of dialogue conversed to me.”

Gavin looked like he was trying to imagine that number.  
“And it told you to say that?”

“No....my social protocols used to tell me the much more polite way to engage, which I still use for our fellow officers and Connor. I did away with that feature in regards to you, however.”

 

“Oh....don’t know if I should be flattered that I’m special or not.”

“You shouldn’t be. I base my responses to you off the most condensed yet condescending approach I can come up with.”

“You metal fuckin’-“

“Alright fellas.” Chris waddled over, bogged down by the layers of rain pinning his wool coat to him. Deciding to leave his rain coat at home when it was only cloudy had proven nightmarish.

“We’re done here. Let’s write this up and get a move on.” 

“I’ll do it.” Nines offered, knowing he could handle the matter in mere seconds. Something he prided himself on considering Connor’s slightly more apparent struggle. He tended to make more mistakes than Nines, however minuscule, and Nines always enjoyed the physical validation that he possessed some kind of uniqueness. It helped him stand away from Connor’s shadow.

“Well, you don’t need me around, then.” Gavin chirped. He was ready to get out of this place like an hour ago, and was already walking to his car.

“No, I certainly don’t, but you are my ride.”

The shorter man visibly sagged, clearly unhappy he agreed to play chauffeur. Nines would like to remind him that they had yet to go on a single case without Gavin driving them.

Chris bailed as soon as he saw Gavin tense. Nines and Gavin had a very stark reputation at work that even rookies were privy to. It was best to stay out of their ‘fun’ little talks whenever possible.

 

“Fucking fine. Just do it on the way.” He made a motion for them to head for his car. Nines didn’t argue, happy to be out of the rain that was soaking through his shoes. 

 

The inside of Gavin’s car was something of a luxury. It always smelled fresh and was kept perfectly trash-less, unlike Lieutenant Anderson’s car, thanks to many bad choices, which included Connor shuffling a dripping wet Sumo who’d fallen into a lake into the passenger seat.

They had yet to clean the muddy paw prints off the dashboard, still.

Gavin’s car was also spotless of scratches and stains, reminding Nines of the time he dropped a liter of cream soda that went fizzing and covering the car ceiling when Connor nearly scaled the seats at the sight of a wolf spider on the steering wheel. 

Nines really hated when Connor drove.

 

This, though, this was relaxing. He almost didn’t want to go home considering this sort of luxury had not been achieved at either his own apartment, or the ‘Anderson’s’.

He finished the report in seconds, as promised, and had plenty of time to remind Gavin at exactly 11:43 he needed to take his medicine.

Not to dwell on the matter, but it was almost horrifying the way he took them. He was usually in the middle of a conversation and wouldn’t stop the few measly seconds necessary to pop them into his mouth and drink some water. 

Instead, Nines could see him almost chewing them while he continued to talk, shucking down water, and occasionally choking for a minute afterward while he tried to speak through it.

The first time, it hadn’t bothered Nines as much as concerned him about Gavin’s mental state. Upon tasting a version of his medicine at a crime scene that a victim had been prescribed, he realized immediately that these were not things you sampled for flavor.

These pills were most beneficial when taken whole, and their revolting taste was not something to be trifled with. Nines had started reminding Gavin, with his haywire schedule, to take his pills a few minutes before time to make sure he come properly shield himself from the visceral terrors of Gavin’s self-medication. 

Such an animal, but like he said- not to dwell...

 

Gavin uncapped a water bottle sitting in the drink holder for this exact purpose and put the cap between his thighs.

He started to fish around his pocket for the pill bottle as they drew closer to Hank’s house. Nines spent Thursday nights over there at his brother’s request.

 

“Shit,” he mumbled after a few minutes of digging in the other side.  
“I left them in my desk...”

Nines predicted as much after a full minute of watching him fumble. No matter. 

He reached into his pocket and produced a similar bottle to Gavin’s, the difference being he’d taken care to scratch out all his personal information off the label.

Gavin saw the gleam of orange plastic in beneath the passing street lights. Nines held it up for him to see and he looked at it in shock.

“How the fuck’d you get that?”

“I have my ways.”

The other barely managed to blink. He let Nines open the bottle and produce a single pill into the palm of his hand.

“That sounds illegal.” He reached for it and swallowed it, chasing it with water. Nines was secretly proud he’d chosen to take it without the choking route today.

“Not quite....but it should be....I told the pharmacist I was your significant other and they didn’t question it.”

“What the hell? That’s fucking horrifying.”

“I know... they didn’t even ask for my ID.”

“No....I meant... that you told them you were my boyfriend.”

“Husband, actually. I knew sharing a last name would grant me more rights to your belongings. Less struggle that way. I only did so because I believe you could use an extra....”

Nines noticed via his excellent night vision in the dimly lit car the way that Gavin’s face flared up. 

Nines recalled the time he’d falsely assumed he and Tina were a couple. A blush had been the missing piece of evidence to give his theory life. He remembered Gavin hadn’t batted an eye at the accusations, looking annoyed to be objectified more than anything. It didn’t exclusively prove it, of course, but Nines had come to recognize its significance when he compared the startling amount of blushing Connor and the Lieutenant did.

It was fairly damning and very human. 

Now, Gavin was here, blushing in the driver seat, at the mere thought of Nines’ innocent endeavor. 

He had only done so in the attempt to aid his partner. Every policemen wanted to protect their work mate, and Nines was no different. Gavin should really be thankful for that, too, because the alternative was watching him die and delighting in the free vacation days he for a fallen partner instead.

It was weird for Gavin to react so strongly in a way that wasn’t cursing and punching. He searched his database for any previous encounters of a similar response, but the closest he came was Tina calling Nines ‘his keeper’. Gavin was flustered, but not to this extent. 

He didn’t even realize when they’d made it to Hank’s house and were sitting idly in the drive way. He never struggled with multitasking before as his mental faculties allowed him to stay in tune with his surroundings. 

For some reason, this issue had taken up more of his processing power that he’d of liked. When he recognized where they were, he was surprised Gavin hadn’t already kicked him out. Nines looked over and saw that he appeared to be having his own difficulties.

“Alright, bosshoss, we’re here.” 

Simple objective— Get out—, but Nines was having trouble making his legs comply. He decided it’d be best not to continue analyzing Gavin while he was in such a state if this was going to be the end result.

They didn’t linger on ‘goodbyes’, and Nines was at the front door, fitting his spare key into the slot in less than a minute. He was greeting a happy, slobbering Sumo the next.

Gavin tried not to watch the exchange like some kind of creeper and threw the car in reverse. He had his own fur babies to get home to.

Nines watched him leave from the corner of his eye and slowly shut the door. His thoughts unusually muddled.

 

The next morning, Nines walked into the precinct with his brother and the Lieutenant in tow to find Gavin’s desk was empty. He wasn’t capable of fine work ethic by any means, but it still wasn’t normal for him to be later than 20 minutes.

It was normal for Hank and Connor, though, whose mornings consisted of the most unorganized chaos he’d ever seen from two people making so much effort not to be. It was always Hank’s fault for whatever reason, but Connor shamelessly fed his lazy behavior in his desire to keep his new boyfriend stress-free. 

Ben swore it was just the honeymoon stage of their fresh, new romance the one time Nines complained, but he couldn’t possibly prepare to explain to the shorter man how wrong he was about Connor’s undying affection. He’d thrown all proper work etiquette into the trash can now that he was getting his cock sucked. It should bother Nines, and it did, if only for how embarrassingly LOW his predecessor’s standards were. 

 

He wasn’t even going to think about the times he hadn’t stayed over, just to see the two of them stumbling in the day after with obviously sex tousled hair, looking ready for bedtime and nearly an hour late. Thankfully that wasn’t too occasional, but he’d love to remind them that getting there early meant leaving early. You can’t break the urgent-morning-sex-cycle because you didn’t get some the night before if you kept getting home late. 

This is why he had his own apartment. This exactly.

“Where’s Reed?” Hank asked Tina a few desks over.

The bullpen was pretty busy today, and she had already answered 4 calls before getting her morning coffee. It was like they all survived one barely functioning coffee maker to keep upright for 9 hours.

“I don’t know- I’m not his keeper.” She’s taken a liking to using that phrase way to much, given Gavin’s initial reaction. Nines wondered is she knew how damn true it was everytime she referenced that that was his job. She’s only find that funnier most likely. 

They didn’t figure it out before Fowler emerged from his office and his booming voice rang out across the bullpen. Everyone quickly stood to attention.

“You’re all here, good.”

Nines was about to point out that Gavin wasn’t when Fowler turned towards him, as if reading his mind, and looked at him gravely. His face was otherwise unreadable, confusing Nines’ analytical process, and was meant to say ‘I see you’. He didn’t know what his own significance was to the situation, but this suddenly felt personal. A cold sort of twisting squeezed his metal ‘gut’.

“Last night, there was an accident.” 

Nines unconsciously opened a link with Connor, but his eyes did not stray.

“I doubt any of you heard, so I’m hear to tell you the bad news....Stacey Brown was found dead last night.”

You could hear a pin drop from the back of the precinct. There were a few sharp inhales, but the otherwise silence was deafening. All eyes wide and chests’ burning. 

Fowler didn’t look like he wanted to continue, but had to do what his job demanded of him.

“She’s been using her vacation days to visit a friend a few counties over, but she did not disclose what kind of help. As you know, another county is out of our jurisdiction, but Brown decided to leave the details private out of concern.... concern that we might....’disagree’.”

Nines couldn’t process what this meant clearly. He hadn’t known personal tragedy, but he could feel that this was different. He stood bolted in place, even as the eyes of fellow officers searched for each other, sharing in their distress. Even as Connor locked eyes with Hank, Nines couldn’t move. He couldn’t offer the humans anything.

“I’d like to leave the details private in respect to her. However...this is one of our own, and I think you should all know of her bravery.”

Nines felt Tina staring at him now, trying, begging him to confide in her. 

They both knew what this meant. Hank did, too. 

Nines just couldn’t move.

“She took a bullet and bled to death while protecting a mother of two from her abusive boyfriend. It seems her friend was in a poor relationship with the suspect, now in custody, and Brown left town to intervene.”

Hank felt dizzy thinking about the children that were involved.

Chris had to take a seat and stare at his hands as everything felt surreal.

Nines just wanted to find Gavin.

Stacey Brown was the closest thing they’d ever had to the office sweetheart, and Gavin’s foster mother.


	2. Indulge Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin seems to be handling things just fine. Isn’t that good news.

Stacey Brown was a faithful volunteer of the Detroit Police Department for many years, and one who had just had her life taken from her at age 61.

For her service, the brave men and women of the DPD came to her funeral to shamelessly bare all. The days leading up were stressful, a kind of charged energy hung between some of the officers and staff. Stacey was known as one of the most cherished members of their community, and rightfully so. She’d been a secretary there for 10 years after moving to the city, and continued to work after her retirement as a volunteer- completely without pay. There were things she did to make her found-family’s life a little bit easier, to bring it a little more quality; some things that no one had really noticed. They were very noticeable now that she was missing, and many felt guilty for taking so much of that for granted. 

She was killed in cold blood for protecting a mother from her abusive boyfriend, and it was surreal to think Stacey Brown was here one minute, and gone the next. The surreality didn’t obscure the facts, though, and now everyone was left to face being one of many loved ones she’d left behind. The DPD suffered greatly.

“She will be sorely missed” the priest said, as if half the cemetery wasn’t overcrowded with cops and their families, and that that wasn’t a gross understatement. 

“Today we remember a kind soul and a loss which was so terrible and so devastating. I look around and see the pain on the faces of those she loved, and those who loved her in return. Now, she is at peace.”

She was the station’s sweetheart if they’d ever had one. She was motherly and kind, despite the troubles constantly brewing outside the world around them, she remained strong. This was rather obvious considering she’d knowingly went and dug her own grave. She sacrificed herself to save her friend, like a real hero, but many wanted to argue whether it had been worth it.

She chose not to tell anyone what she was doing or where she was going, and it was hard to deny she likely knew how dangerous it would be. That there would be someone to try and stop her.

 

While Stacey had acted as a mother to many who needed it, to those who didn’t have one, Gavin Reee was the special case.

She’d taken legal action to adopt him, and it was more than simply being motherly. It was a rocky childhood, and Gavin was already a pre-teen by the time Stacey’d gotten a hold of him, but they were all the other had for the longest time. She loved him regardless of the hell storm he’d come from, and Gavin would never deny loving her as his very own mother. 

More than his own mother, for many reasons.

Their relationship wasn’t popular knowledge, and only some resident officers who’d been around in Gavin’s time knew anything about it. Fowler, of course, was one of them. 

 

The day following the funeral, Gavin returned to work, against all of Fowler’s threats to suspend him. It didn’t take much convincing to allow him back as he soon realized the younger man needed this in many more ways than one. He was never really sure what to do with his rowdiest police officer, and he couldn’t decide whether it would be a bad or good thing for him to come back just yet.

He turned a blind eye to it, against all reasonable judgement, so long as Gavin agreed to work the small cases that kept him in the office. His temper was impossible to judge in this situation, proving neurotic at the best of times, so it was best to keep him away from the general public. 

None of the cases Fowler approved for him involved domestics or family issues. It was another small measure on Jeffrey’s part to protect him. 

The younger man quickly grew bored of what that left him with, however, and he found himself turning damn near feral.

Well.....more than usual.

 

He was pretty akin to a loose canon in a small room. He’d find his chosen victims sooner or later, though he’d likely see it as a harmless outlet for his stress, and take all his aggression to his targets.

“What the fuck are you looking at, flat-screen?” 

“The empty case report I sent you. On your *desk*.”

“Weren’t you made to do these in less than half the time it takes me?”

“Certainly, detective, but then what would you do all day?”

“Get lost a couple of hours, and see when you get back.”

“Hmm.....If you’ll recall, your attempt to loosen all the screws in my chair last week failed, as did gluing my drawers shut.”

“Maybe I just want you to think I’m bad at fucking with you, Connor.”

“Or maybe you’re just *actually* bad.”

“Could you two please shut up?” Hank stood from his desk, hands rubbing his temples. 

Gavin shut his mouth in a rare instance of self consciousness and shot Connor a staving look. He stared back, looking perfectly stoic like Gavin was little more than an ant beneath his foot.

They’d been doing ‘better’ for a while there with Connor actually coaxing decent interactions out of him from time to time, but now they were back to Gavin just wanting to strangle him.

The android looked at him unfazed, then stood and went for the break room. Nines, who’d been watching the display, followed.

It wasn’t like Connor to act unreasonably. In fact, he acted the most decently towards Gavin when no one else did.

Nines gave a little nod towards Tina as she stood in her usual spot at the corner table, then scoped out Connor fetching Hank another coffee.

He‘d never been afraid to speak his mind, but Nines was certainly a bit worried about how this conversation would go. Too often than not, he was left more confused about the things Connor did when he proved to be far more emotional than Nines ever could. He hated struggling to find the meaning in things, and Connor’s answers often left him with such a feat. 

 

“Why do you feed his temper?” He asked, slinking up beside the shorter android.

“Do I?....I thought that was pretty normal conversation for us. You should have seen what it was like before.”

Tina chortled from behind. Nines turned and regarded the two carefully, unsure how to proceed. He’d of course heard stories of what the pair were like before his time there, but he didn’t think that should be the point. In light of that, he didn’t fully know what it should be, either. 

“He needs it....” Connor muttered, grabbing Nines attention again.

 

He searched for Connor’s eyes as he focused on adding sugar to Hank’s coffee. There was a darkness in them, conflicted about his own words. 

“He needs something to make him forget. Even if it’s just a for a minute.” 

He probably poured less sugar in Hank’s drink than he would be happy with, but his motions became significantly stilted when he was under duress. Another post deviancy flaw. He gave Nines a little shrug, not meeting his eyes. 

“This is all I can do about that.” ‘This’ being their frequent bickering.

Connor left the room quickly after that. Nines looked behind him to find that Tina had left, too.

He stood awkwardly in the break room mulling over what his brother had said. He understood what Connor was saying, he understood the premise of it. It seemed cruel on the surface after everything Gavin had suffered, but, really, it was mercy. 

This didn’t confuse him, per say. He understood that he’d chosen to incorporate such an unusual tactic. It didn’t confuse him why Connor was ‘helping’ in this manner, and it didn’t confuse him that Gavin would likely respond well to it- even if he didn’t know what Connor was doing or that it was a somewhat unhealthy way of coping. 

Nines was more confused about.....well, himself. 

 

Why hadn’t he thought of doing that? 

And why hadn’t he wanted to?

He’d made the effort to keep Gavin’s medicine on hand, actually lying about his title, highly illegally by the way, as his spouse. That was about as high as you could go on the richter scale of ‘crazy’. 

And yet he hadn’t desired to do something like......that?

He was content to let Gavin work out his loss on his own terms, no matter how painful, and didn’t think intervention was an idea worth entertaining. Nines had just never thought of that.

He wondered if he should have, though. If Connor knew he was having such thoughts, he likely would have confirmed this, and that seemed to be enough evidence to pursue them. It would provide him another notch in his human relations protocol, and that always seemed to make Connor happy. He constructed the little gaps between his new goal and the motivation it required to let his central processor take over.

It filled out, and for the first time since he’d apologized to Tina, Nines was able to engage his small sliver of empathy without extra process power. Connor would love that, too. 

 

He made a beeline for the captain’s office with the new objective highlighted into his visual feed. There was no point in waiting to see change, as far as he was concerned, as he was equipped with the brain power to make change happen.

 

“Captain Fowler- may I make a request?”

Jeffrey watched him enter from the corner of his eye, but refused to look up from his keyboard.  
“You still owe Perkins an apology.”

The android closed the door behind him and stood at the center of his office, a few feet from his desk. 

“Captain Fowler, would you consider giving Detective Reed some footwork? I think he’s been stationary for long enough.”

He made himself look busy for a while longer, hoping to out wait Nines for choosing to ignore him, before Jeffrey gave in and folded his hands together, swiveling fully to face him. He fixed Nines with his famous scowl, the same one Hank often wore.

 

“You’re an expert on feelings all of a sudden, are you?”

“No. I’d never claim to be. Human emotion above the most basic level seems to elude me. I do, however, know my partner, Captain, and I know he isn’t benefiting from sitting around.”

“I know him, too, way before *you* did....But I don’t have anything for him right now.”

“Nothing?”

“Not unless he wants to train the newest recruit, and I don’t think anybody wants that.”

Nines decided that: No. Nobody wanted that. 

He’d been the first person, android or human, to withstand Gavin’s atrocious behavior in years. Including his ratchet medicine habits.

His LED flashed yellow for a millisecond longer than it’d normally take him to finish a construction. He was a little surprised to find he couldn’t envision a perfectly ideal solution, and would just have to settle for a good one instead.

 

“You still owe Perkins an apology, Nines.”

“What if...Detective Reed assists me on a case? It wouldn’t involve any family connotations to take up the investigation on the suspected ice dealers.”

“Chen’s working that case-“

“There’s a break in her progress.” Nines unfolded his arms from behind his back and took a step forward. 

“She needs to search the dealer’s house with a partner and there hasn’t been any time since she took over the recent suicides.”

That was what Nines and Gavin had been working on for a few months before Stacey passed. The suicides had only involved a few family issues in all 6 they’d shown up to, but that was a few too many to allow Gavin to keep working it right now. The investigation was being split between Tina, Connor, and Hank. Tina just handled the calls to scenes, but that was still eating a hole in her drug busting time. Obviously a suicide took priority.

 

Fowler sighed, because as much as Nines was right about Gavin’s withering resolve to sit around all day, he was also very sure the other would blow up in everyone’s face. 

He looked through his glass wall and watched Gavin slouch over his desk, staring listlessly at a group of files spread everywhere. He looked to be reading through one when he rolled his chair back and started scrubbing his hands over his face. It didn’t take a genius to see he was quickly losing it.

Jeffrey turned back to Nines who looked expectantly for his answer. Cocky fucker most likely read his chances of success and found them in his favor. Jeffrey would like to disappoint him on principle alone, but in contrary to giving Hank and Connor as much grief and as little give as possibly, Fowler had a more difficult time extending that approach to Gavin. Not while he was in a state like this.

But this would end badly, he had this sure feeling it would. Another look at Gavin slouching forward to begin digging through the piles of paperwork again finally convinced him to agree.

Nines stood straighter, knowing he’d won.

Fowler rubbed his temple, looking at Nines in a manner as unimpressed as he blatantly felt, and decided he wanted to give him the full experience of his apathy. 

“You. Owe. Perkins. An. Apology.”

“He showed up completely unwarranted, Captain-“

“You do not know all the details, Nines, because they have not been given to you. Before you say anything, I’d like to state for the record how impossible that would be, since I didn’t know all of them *myself*.”

Not true, it wasn’t impossible. The most advanced detective android on the market could draw his own correct conclusions without an official recalibration effortlessly.

But this wasn’t for debate.

“Apology.”

Nines schooled himself to seem unaffected, for once requiring some effort.

“...I’m writing it, then?”

“I don’t care how you do it, Nines, I just want him off my damn back...send me a copy of it, however it’s done, and get Gavin out of here.”

Nines refrained from glowering too much and nodded. He should be thankful for what he’d been given, like Connor would be, but he was more thankful Fowler had the sensibility to see how logical this route was. Gavin needed something besides the torment he was being given stuck at desk work, and Fowler being able to recognize that shouldn’t be anything a grand expectation of a police captain.

 

He didn’t like the deal they’d made, though. Once he left his office, he sent Connor the most appalling sequence of binary he ever had to in the closest Nines had come to ranting. He approached his terminal, receiving an amused glitch through their feed, and sent Connor another message. 

As he’d thought, Connor responded with very mixed feelings as he’d just been asked if he would help Nines make the most condescending apology as possible.

He perked from his desk, sending a feeling of dread through the link which Nines easily dismissed with an eye roll and a blocker. Connor tried to express how hard this would likely backfire, being sure to add in Fowler’s ensuing wrath when it did, but Nines shut it down.

He made it painfully clear that he was not concerned of any of that, and chastised his brother for not knowing him better. 

 

That seemed to be all the assurance Connor needed to agree to be at his terminal in the next 6 minutes and 4 seconds. The facts were simply that Connor couldn’t miss out on joining in his brother’s mutiny. He’d done his part and warned him after all. 

Nines took his seat across from Gavin in his desk, faint smile splitting the corners of his lips. The other noticed, looking thoroughly annoyed by it, but chose to look back at the current file in his hand instead of commenting.

Nines began typing the letter up, choosing to do so manually in the hopes it might peak Gavin’s interest. 

A little test.

Connor’s idea of cheering him up might be something like arguing, but Nines’ idea was a little more to do with making other people his target. Childish, of course, but he had physical evidence that Gavin enjoyed judgement of others on multiple occasions. Applying this knowledge he’d gathered from his, Gavin was likely to appreciate an opportunity to indulge. It wouldn’t hurt to have his rather crude input while they wrote this, either.

“I’m surprised Perkins didn’t ask for one of these from all of us.” Connor whispered, coming up behind to stare over his brother’s shoulder.  


“It’s more like he demanded one, judging by the Captain’s insistence. I’m not sure why he wants to keep the peace-“

“Yes, you do.”

“But whatever the case, I’ve been forced to comply. Now...should I start the letter with, ‘Attention FBI’, or ‘This is an urgent announcement’.”

“‘This is a limited time offer’.” Connor said without batting an eye. The inner gremlin was strong in in this one.

“You know Fowler will have you rewrite this.”

“Oh, that at the VERY least. I won’t be sending him this copy.”

“We should lower our voices, then, since this is likely going to be a write up. Don’t put my name on this.”

“You wish- this is my apology, and I won’t let you take all the credit.”

“You shouldn’t celebrate your impending unemployment.”

“Are you jealous I have something to show for my work here?”

 

They had Gavin’s interest for a while now. He didn’t bothering moving the files aside before leaning over to see the commotion.

“What the fuck are you two doing?”

Nines looked from his screen to his partner, who looked thoroughly irritated, but also interested in what they were up to.

“I am to write an apology letter, and Connor here has agreed rather generously to help me....Would you like to have your say?”

“An apology letter?... to who?”

“Perkins, of course. Did you forget my audacious behavior at the suicide case?”

 

Gavin all but dropped his paperwork to the floor, standing and rounding their desks in three long strides while papers went flying.

“Are you serious?”

“Since you think I’m such a prude all the time, aren’t I always?”

“Man, fuck! What the hell, that night was great! He totally deserved every bit of that... Fowler said you had to do this?”

“Sadly, yes.” Nines couldn’t mimic sadness like Connor could. Or he’d at least never tried to. But, the sarcasm was still very much not lost on his audience.

“Want to help me?”

“Hell yeah!” Gavin smiled wickedly. Connor stepped aside to give him more space. Hank was about to break his tablet trying hard not to get involved.

Gavin read through it with this little glint in his eye that screamed ‘demon-child’.

“It looks really awful so far.” 

“Oh? Did I make a spelling error somewhere?”

“Ha!” Gavin came a little closer, the light in his his eyes growing into a familiar fire Nines had come to attribute as Gavin being ‘excited’. 

“You have to actually say you’re sorry in here at some point.”

“I agree.” Connor chirped.

“But here, look.” Gavin took over Nines’ keyboard, their shoulders pushing together as he furiously began to type. 

“You can still be a condescending asshole while you do it....annnd done!”

The two androids admired his work before Connor outright laughed. This shit would NOT fly if Fowler found it. 

Which he would, considering he was watching the most obvious display of frat-boy behavior from the chair in his office he’d ever seen as three idiots typed away. It was obvious what they were doing. Fowler sighed and reached for the records book kept under his cubicle.

Connor couldn’t help the strange fondness that grew in him watching his brother and workmate act so shamelessly assholish. It was so very against his own nature, and that was surprisingly refreshing in the way North’s brazen confidence was. He’d definitely not been disappointed for putting so much work into his brother.

 

“Well, on that note, this is the most contradicting thing I’ve ever been a part of. I appreciate your help... both of you.” Nines regarded Gavin with a certain smugness, then turned to Connor as an after thought- like he’d forgotten he was still there.

Gavin beamed, which was never a good thing in general, but Nines delighted in it all the same. Their mischief was about the only thing they had in common (so Nines thought).

Connor left the two to finish his own work while the partners talked. Nines was pleased to be able to tell Gavin the good news. 

“The Captain has agreed to let us pursue the ice case. Tomorrow, we’ll meet and search the house on 23rd street.”

Gavin gawked at him a moment.  
“That was Tina’s territory.”

“Change in management.”

Gavin looked down at his nails, picking at his normally smoothed out cuticles. It was very obvious he’d been less careful about his grooming habits lately. Nines could tell when he hadn’t washed his hair, as dark as it already was, or when he’d stayed up drinking the night before.

 

Honestly, Nines didn’t know how he was coping in light of recent events, but if sleeping in his clothes every other night and swimming through a hangover every now and then was his way of handling it, he’d say he was doing very well.

 

“Surprised Fowler is gonna let me see some action this early. I know he’d rather keep me here a few more weeks.”

“I think he’d rather suspend you, like he initially tried to do for coming back too soon.”

Gavin would laugh at that, at his desperate attempt to escape loneliness by risking suspension, if he wasn’t busy thinking about being alone later that evening.

“I’m not complaining. Shit, if I have to read one more case about a missing person...”

“The police are literally the only ones to handle those issues, detective.”

“Did Connor teach you that?”

“He had to. I was far more preoccupied with my first homicide case at the time.”

Gavin laughed but it wasn’t meant to sound nice. Perhaps the other thing the two could agree on was their lack of compassion. He’d try to do better for Connor, but Gavin’s abundant apathy was quite enjoyable at times. A secret guilty pleasure. 

Nines left for the day feeling very satisfactory for having told Gavin something reassuring for once. He’d looked more alive than he had in days.

Nines was about half way to his apartment when his timer went off and he alerted Gavin with a text to take his medicine. 

——————  
In an utopia world, Gavin would require more than a few days before rushing to suppress his feelings. He’d take time to look inside himself and allow himself to grieve for the loss of his mother, and even spend a few weeks away.

Gavin did take his medicine. As soon as Nines reminded him, Gavin took out the bottle from his pocket and put a single dose into his palm. He couldn’t afford to skip it even once. 

In fact, behind the damn he’d built to hold in his emotions, all his pain, Gavin only had lies and alcohol and the idea his medicine was possibly enough to keep him put together. He could stay as out of touch with his rapidly dissolving sanity as those few addictions would allow him.

He felt lonely in a way that was worse than all his failed relationships. He felt more worthless than the time Hank had denied him to his face. He felt more pathetic than the time he’d allowed Tina to go first in a raid and take a bullet for him. 

Gavin felt like a shell, or he almost did. It wouldn’t be long before the material goods he was clinging to to keep him functioning at his most basic level would no longer be enough. All the horrible things would surface and flood every bit of himself he had left.

Now, he couldn’t stop those things from happening. For the first time in 20 something years, Gavin didn’t have someone to call when things got too bad. He didn’t have the only sure thing in his life that was there for him when he needed to get through the hard parts.

No mother could stand the heartbreak of outliving their own child, but Gavin wished desperately that that had been the case.

Alcohol wouldn’t help him tonight.


End file.
